The EU Council bodies are fine-tuning a very long draft set of conclusions on how to make ‘the EU's post-Covid-19 economic recovery circular and green’ by a broad sweep, in light of a compromise dated 24 November and submitted to the EU Council's Environment Working Party on Friday 27 November.
Beyond the references to the European Green Deal, to the long-term strategy for a climate-neutral EU economy by 2050, to the new Action Plan for Circular Economy, the text also integrates the strategies ‘Resilience in the supply of critical raw materials’ (see EUROPE 12552/1), ‘Biodiversity by 2030’ and ‘Chemicals for Sustainability’. Future conclusions on green numbering will also be mentioned when they are adopted by the Environment Council of the EU (see EUROPE 12520/8).
In particular, the text stresses the importance of the Recovery Facility and the Multiannual Financial Framework (still subject to the lifting of the Polish and Hungarian vetoes, Editor's note) to create jobs and immediately address the damage caused by the pandemic while putting the EU on the path to a sustainable and resilient recovery. All this by supporting an effective, fair and socially balanced implementation of the political goals of the ‘Green Deal’ and ensuring the coherence of EU spending with the ‘do no harm’ principle and the Paris Agreement objectives.
It recognises the central role of the transition to a circular economy in boosting competitiveness, innovation, employment and welfare by promoting circular business models and purchasing practices, entrepreneurship and research, extending the use phase of products, adding more value and functionality to products, buildings and goods. It also means preventing resource depletion and waste and improving waste management by applying the waste hierarchy, establishing an efficient single market for non-toxic products, high-quality secondary raw materials and the use of digital data and technologies.
The text recalls that decoupling economic growth from resource use and the shift to circular systems in production and consumption will be instrumental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the EU’s climate neutrality by 2050, reversing biodiversity loss, conserving and restoring ecosystems and their services, increasing resource efficiency and achieving a toxic-free environment.
In these draft conclusions, the EU Council asks the Commission: - to launch the actions and present, as soon as possible, the legislative proposals set out in the Action Plan for Circular Economy, carrying out comprehensive impact assessments; - to devote the necessary resources to ensure and facilitate the implementation of the Action Plan and its enforcement, providing timely guidance and reporting regularly to Member States on the progress of implementation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)